Pandagon is daily opinion blog covering feminism, politics, and pop culture. Come for the politics, stay for the complete lack of patience for the B.S. and bad faith coming from conservative leaders and pundits.

The Reality of Abortion

Recently, I was on a panel about reproductive rights and sexual health and at one point I mentioned a blogger at Pursuit of Harpyness who blogged her abortion experience in detail, including a photo of what came out after she took RU-486. Even though it was a pro-choice audience, they were shocked by this description, to which I basically pointed out that while looking at blood clots is no one’s idea of a good time, it’s important to show what actually happens during a typical abortion to counter misleading anti-choice claims that actual baby bodies are coming out.

Well, it seems another woman has come to the same conclusion, that an actual visual of a real abortion is important to counter all the pictures of late-term fetuses—many of which are faked—that anti-choicers use to imply that a typical abortion is much later in the pregnancy than it is. That’s why I applaud the anonymous woman who used her cameraphone to take pictures of her abortion and put up a website called This is my abortion to display them. Again, no one likes look at a jar holding what amounts to getting your period all at once, but it’s a necessary thing to counter the misinformation promoted by anti-choicers.

So, for your edification, this is what your average abortion actually looks like:

This is an important image to hang on to for the next time you have an anti-choicer wanking about how this is “killing babies”. Ask them to find the baby in this picture, if they’re just so certain.

About the Author

Amanda Marcotte is a freelance journalist born and bred in Texas, but now living in the writer reserve of Brooklyn. She focuses on feminism, national politics, and pop culture, with the order shifting depending on her mood and the state of the nation.